City officials of Shanghai announced Wednesday that a workplace inspection is to be done in the wake of the imprisonment of four bosses in Fengxian District for running from their responsibility to pay their employees.
According to Shanghai Daily, the workplace inspections were launched to ensure that migrant workers would receive their wages from their employers before they head home upon the beginning of the Spring Festival on Feb. 19.
Migrant workers are usually paid annually and their paydays are commonly set before they return to their home country for the holiday.
During this time, many businessmen who employ migrant workers for their lower wages take advantage of the predictability of the payday schedule and disappear without leaving their workers' salaries.
Just last year, the Shanghai Human Resources and Social Security Bureau received more than 6,700 complaints regarding unpaid wages and had incarcerated four employers who were proven to have done so.
One of the most serious cases involved an unlicensed contractor identified as Zhang who was incarcerated for about two years and penalized to pay 20,000 yuan ($3,227) after he was proven guilty of evading his responsibility to the migrant workers he hired.
According to reports, he disappeared around January without paying 47 manual laborers with whom he owed a total of 728,000 yuan (more than $117,000).
After he was caught and arrested in July, the construction company who subcontracted the project to Zhang had paid the workers' wages.
Aside from Zhang, Li, the boss of a clothing factory, was also jailed for eight months and was obligated to pay 10,000 yuan as fine after he fled without paying 50 employees who were supposed to receive a total of 280,000 yuan from working for him.
A bath products company boss identified as Yuan was also penalized for the same amount and jail time for not compensating 20 employees with whom he owed a total of 100,000 yuan, while another clothing factory owner was also given the same punishment because he owed 28 employees 170,000 yuan.
Aside from paying regular wages, companies are now also required to pay a security deposit for the salaries to the Shanghai Human Resources and Social Security Bureau which will be used in case an employer runs from his or her responsibility.